it is later than you think

So, one month into night shift, and I'm already feeling like a vampire.

My days off are incredibly pointless, and are mostly spent either trying to force myself to wake up enough to deal with errands during the daylight hours (with the other, light-loving mortals) or else springing into action at 1 a.m., mercilessly cleaning every surface of my home for lack of anything to do. Or sleeping, and waking up at odd hours wondering what day it is, and feeling as if I've spent the last month in a sensory deprivation chamber.

Today I indulged in a TNT sponsored Law and Order fest. It was all old school Law and Order, back when Adam Schiff and Ben Stone ruled with a tyrannically moralistic cold fist of justice. So beautiful, it made me want to weep. (Although I have to say, except for lack of the weird 80's flattop, Isiah Washington--now of Preston Burke, MD Grey's Anatomy heartthrob fame--looks and sounds the same as he did ten years ago. Was he cryogenically frozen, or something? Because that's scary!)

I'd seen most of the episodes, but the thing with Law and Order is, it doesn't really matter if you've seen them before, even three or four times before. It's all about the tried-and-true formula of murder/cops/lawyers/trials. It's a beautiful thing. Heartbreakingly beautiful, really.

Then I slept, and woke up at 1 a.m. And cleaned the house, and did laundry, and ironed, and wondered why there isn't an underground city here, like at Disney World, that's open twenty four hours a day, so people who work nights actually have something to do in the middle of the night on their days off.